I do not have or have ever been raised with a religious affiliation. The findings regarding the correlation between religiosity and longevity are interesting because while it appears that those who were religious lived longer than those who were not. However, it wasn’t because religion inherently begets a longer life, rather, it is the behaviours promoted by religion, such as being kind to others, treating yourself well, and being an active member in one’s community, that contribute to this correlation. I would like to believe that engaging in these behaviours as an agnostic (or otherwise non-religious) context could still enable one to reap the same benefits so I am not too concerned.
In relation to the benefits of religiosity, there was an interesting tie to the impact of social supports. Those who were religious were also strongly correlated to having a well-established sense of social support – which has been seen to improve one’s life and overall longevity due to how it promotes good mental health. Personally, I want to think that I have a sense of social support because I have a network of friends who I’ve known and relied on for many years. While we may not have congregated because of a common religion, we do support each other as a result of having a wealth of common interests elsewhere.
I believe you made a good point about how social support can be beneficial even without a religious affiliation. Having community involvement and social support can increase longevity, despite being religious, because the results from the Terman subjects suggested that spirituality did not actually affect health.
I think in college it is crucial to have a good support system, whether that’s friends, family members, teammates, etc. The college experience introduces many stressors and barriers, and it sounds like you have a good support system!
I believe you are correct about religion perhaps not being the sole element in increasing longevity in this chapter, and I think you made a good point about social support being present in the lives of non-religious people as well, and how this affects their longevity. I think it would be interesting to analyze longevity rates of strictly non-religious people and examine which factors contribute most to their longevity.